UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School is deeply saddened by the death of graduate student Teresa Marie Igaz, who passed away recently in her Goleta residence. Teresa was in the second year of her doctoral studies in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology under the direction of her advisors Dr. Michael Furlong and Dr. Jill Sharkey. She had a deep passion to work with and help youth cope with life’s challenges and help them develop thriving social-emotional health.
Friends and colleagues remember her as an endearing, funny, bright, hard working, empathetic, and generous person, who always lent a helping hand regardless of her personal work needs. Teresa took profound pride in the accomplishments of her research team and made sure to celebrate milestones with her friends. Her dedication to student learning, ethics, social justice and ensuring that schools were a safe and empowering place for all students was relentless. She often brought up social justice concerns and encouraged her peers to consider the wellbeing of a diverse student body. Teresa aspired to one day become a professor at a university and looked forward to a career of research, academia, and engaging in life-long learning to support at-risk youth.
After studying at UC Berkley and working in the public health field Teresa came to UCSB to study school psychology and was so excited that she had found just the right niche to blend her research and practice interests. Always eager and enthusiastic, Teresa quickly made positive contributions to several research projects. One of the projects she was passionate about was the evaluation of a dating violence prevention program in four local high schools, called “What is LOVE?” This project allowed her to carry on her work as a former sexual health advocate for Berkeley High School, promoting healthy, consensual, and respectful relationships among youth. She worked tirelessly for the past year and a half to make sure the “What is LOVE?” program ran smoothly, coordinating logistics with the schools and program staff, collecting data, and ensuring that students who have experienced violence were safe and supported.
Teresa also provided support for the south Santa Barbara County CalGRIP project, working with case managers to track program elements and collect the required evaluation data. As one of the CAC “Comadres” wrote, “I know that she had a huge heart, that she was so genuine in wanting to help our program, family, and youth…. She made me want to go back to school and re-create the research team family I once had with my professor. I will miss her and the inner light she gave me.” Teresa developed deep and caring relationships with everyone on her research teams. She mentored high school and undergraduate students with such attention and enthusiasm that they looked up to her as a role model and someone whom they wanted to become.
Teresa impacted many students’ lives as a school psychologist in training. She cared deeply about the effectiveness of schools and the individual students with whom she interacted. Her fieldwork supervisor wrote, “Teresa was lovely, endearing, bright, sweet, hard working and generous with her time and effort. I got to know her as a person because she was so open. I feel that she would have made a wonderful school psychologist.”
Teresa was full of life and excited about her future. She had plans for international research, fieldwork, to celebrate her peers, and for traveling with her family. We miss her dearly and all of her amazing contributions to the Department, the Gevirtz School, and our surrounding community.
The Gevirtz School we will have a memorial event in honor of Teresa during the winter 2016 term. Details will be made available when the event is planned.